Lack Of Support For ATI X1xxx Graphics Card

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there are technical reasons for recent games not supporting the ATI X1xxx Graphics card in my Mac Pro. I realize my machine is getting up there in years but it is still quite fast for everything else I need it for.

Secondly, does anyone know of a good replacement Graphics card for my Mac Pro model 2,1? I run dual 23" Apple displays so would need one that supports that.

Snake, I think $400 for a Graphics card so I can play a couple of games is unlikely. I'd probably buy a new Mac before I do that.

Master Blaster, where do I find Flashed Graphics cards or the file so I can flash it myself?

Yes I agree. I was merely pointing out the official way to upgrade your graphics card. A lot of people have had good experiences and saved a lot of money by flashing a card to work. I have no experience in that area though.

As i understand it if you have a flashed version you won't get the Apple boot screen. Probably a small price to pay, but over the (many) years I've troubleshooted a few Macs from icons the boot screen put up, so I felt more comfortable buying the official one. I got it for $220 2 years ago from MacConnection-- it was a decent price at the time. Was also watching eBay but if you do make sure they are up front about whether its flashed or not. Careful perusal of the photo and listing will usually tell. On principle don't do business with anyone who appears to be hedging.

In the pre-2008 Mac Pros the 5770 makes the most sense as there isn't enough gain with a 5870 because of the PCI-E bus bottleneck.

No such thing, really. Anandtech did exhaustive tests and except at the most absurd resolutions with the most absurd amount of details and effects enabled, there was no performance difference for video cards plugged into 16x lanes vs 4x lanes. I also never had a problem seeing the OSX/Mac Bootup screen with either a flashed 4870 (original Mac Pro) or my Nehalem quad core (flashed 5870).

I recall reading that PCI-E bottleneck was a myth as well, but I also remember a test of a 5770 versus a 5870 in a 2006 Mac Pro and the results being almost identical - hence given the price difference at the time it didn't appear worthwhile. That said no doubt you can pick a 5870 up cheap these days if you're prepared to flash a PC one and it will certainly work.

I recall reading that PCI-E bottleneck was a myth as well, but I also remember a test of a 5770 versus a 5870 in a 2006 Mac Pro and the results being almost identical - hence given the price difference at the time it didn't appear worthwhile. That said no doubt you can pick a 5870 up cheap these days if you're prepared to flash a PC one and it will certainly work.

There's some likelihood that that system is bottlenecking somewhere else, be it CPU, FSB, or wherever. Those old Pros (i still have one sitting here) used relatively slow DDR2 RAM and a slower FSB. I doubt it was the PCIe bus bottlenecking it.